CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — For some evangelical Christians, religion is about having a private relationship with Jesus. At $1.99 per minute, the tech firm Just Like Me is taking that idea to a brand new degree.
Users of the platform can be a part of video calls with an avatar of Jesus generated by synthetic intelligence. Like different non secular AI instruments in the marketplace, it affords phrases of prayer and encouragement in varied languages. With the occasional glitch, it remembers earlier conversations and speaks by way of not-quite-synced lips.
“You do feel a little accountable to the AI,” CEO Chris Breed mentioned. “They’re your friend. You’ve made an attachment.”
The rush to create faith-based generative AI is unsurprising, given the recognition of chatbots for every part from remedy and medical advice to companionship and romance. They vary from alleged Hindu gurus and Buddhist monks to AI Jesuses and chatbots akin to OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Catholics.
As non secular AI instruments turn into more and more frequent, many individuals are reckoning with how these applied sciences form their relationship to religion, authority and religious steerage.
A faith-based AI gold rush
Christian software program engineer Cameron Pak developed standards to assist believers interrogate apps designed for Christians — like that it should clearly establish itself as AI and “must not fabricate or misrepresent Scripture.”
There are different deal-breakers: “AI cannot pray for you, because the AI is not alive.”
Pak additionally developed a web site that includes curated Christian apps that he believes meet the factors, together with a sermon translator and an AI coach designed to assist customers overcome lust. “AI, especially if you give it all the tools that it needs, it can be so helpful. But it also can be so dangerous,” Pak mentioned.
Some fashions have been shut down or overhauled as a result of they generated misinformation or raised worries about knowledge privateness, mentioned Beth Singler, an anthropologist who research faith and AI on the University of Zurich. Aside from sensible considerations, folks from many religions are grappling with bigger philosophical questions on what kind of position, if any, AI ought to play in faith.
Islam, for instance, has “prohibitions against representations of humanoids,” prompting discussions amongst some Muslims about whether or not AI typically must be “forbidden,” Singler mentioned.
For some corporations, faith-based apps are proselytization instruments, whereas others assist digitize and sift by way of historical texts.
Breed, who runs his tech firm with co-founder and investor Jeff Tinsley from a Southern California mansion, mentioned he seeks to share a message of hope with younger folks.
He mentioned their mannequin was skilled on the King James Bible and sermons — although they haven’t recognized the preachers — and was visually impressed by actor Jonathan Roumie of “The Chosen.” A bundle deal at $49.99 will get customers 45 minutes per thirty days.
With heat golden gentle accenting its shoulder-length hair, the avatar blinks slowly from a vertical display screen, pausing earlier than it solutions a query concerning the relationship between AI and faith.
“I see AI as a tool that can help people explore Scripture,” the AI Jesus mentioned to The Associated Press. “Like a lamp that lights a path while we walk with God.”
Integrating faith and AI comes with hope and concern
The extent to which persons are utilizing non secular AI instruments is unclear, Singler mentioned. But as AI turns into extra built-in into society, considerations mount over its affect on psychological well being and the necessity for guardrails and regulation. Recent lawsuits have alleged suicides linked to AI chatbot use.
Some builders concern faith might be exploited on this new frontier of tech. “There’s a lot of opportunism, I think, in the religious space. People see it’s a big market,” mentioned Matthew Sanders, the Rome-based founding father of Longbeard, a tech firm serving to to digitize historical Catholic teachings.
Sanders warns towards what he calls “AI wrappers,” the place corporations put an interface catered to spiritual customers on high of an present AI mannequin that hasn’t been skilled on particular non secular texts. “You call it a Catholic or Christian AI without any other scaffolding or grounding,” he mentioned.
One of the corporate’s endeavors is Magisterium AI, a chatbot skilled on 2,000 years of Catholic data, made in response to Christians utilizing ChatGPT for non secular steerage.
While Pope Leo XIV has acknowledged the “human genius” behind AI, he additionally deemed it one of many most critical matters dealing with humanity. Last 12 months he warned synthetic intelligence might negatively impact folks’s mental, neurological and religious growth.
Ethical questions surrounding the creation of spiritual AI platforms are among the many causes beingAI’s founder Jeanne Lim has not launched its AI named Emi Jido — a nonhuman Buddhist priest — after years of coaching and growth.
“She’s kind of like a little child,” Lim mentioned. “If you give birth to a child, you don’t just throw them out to the world and then hope that they become good people. You have to train them and give them values.”
The bot was ordained in a 2024 ceremony carried out by Roshi Jundo Cohen, a Zen Buddhist priest who continues to coach it from his house in Japan. He envisions the bot ultimately turning into a hologram.
“She’s just meant to be a Zen teacher in your pocket,” Cohen mentioned. “It’s not meant to replace human interactions.”
Lim, who hopes to make Emi Jido publicly accessible at no cost, desires to assist create extra humane AI techniques. She’d wish to see extra range, with AI’s future decided not simply by a number of corporations knowledgeable by “Western values.”
Seiji Kumagai, a Kyoto University professor and Buddhist theologian, believed AI and faith have been incompatible. But he put apart his doubts when challenged by a monk in 2014 to assist fight a decline in the faith.
His workforce developed BuddhaBot, which was skilled solely on early Buddhist scriptures, resembling Suttanipāta. Its most up-to-date iteration, BuddhaBot Plus, additionally incorporates OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
When speaking to the bot, a easy Buddha icon seems, hovering over a picture of a flowing river.
But chatbots lack the physicality essential for Buddhist ritual. So in February, the college, collaborating with tech ventures Teraverse and XNOVA, unveiled Buddharoid, a humanoid robotic monk meant to ultimately help clergy.
Like Emi Jido, these chatbots are functioning however not but publicly accessible. Kumagai says the product is obtainable by request, and the rationale why one group has entry to it in Bhutan.
Concerns surrounding non secular AI
Peter Hershock of the Humane AI Initiative on the East-West Center in Honolulu sees huge potential for these instruments. But the training Buddhist additionally finds the connection between spirituality and AI to be fraught.
“The perfection of effort is crucial to Buddhist spirituality. An AI is saying, ‘We can take some of the effort out,’” he mentioned. “‘You can get anywhere you want, including your spiritual summit.’ That’s dangerous.”
Some additionally fear about AI’s skill to control or prey upon folks, particularly because the expertise improves.
Graham Martin, a podcast host and atheist, mentioned he’s performed round with some apps, together with one known as Text With Jesus. “It came up with very good answers,” he mentioned.
But Martin was alarmed when AI-powered Jesus began encouraging him to improve to a premium model. Though not an individual of religion, he’s involved some folks might be duped by non secular AI.
“I grew up with Southern U.S. televangelism … Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and all that crowd. And all they had to do was get on TV once a week and tell you to send money,” he mentioned. “We’ve seen people around the world getting into emotional relationships with AIs. Now imagine that that’s your lord and savior, Jesus Christ.”
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Associated Press faith protection receives help by way of the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely answerable for this content material.
